What Happens When Sony Doesn't Renew Some Domain Names

When you don't pay for your domain names, you lose your website. It doesn't matter if you're a mummy blogger or Sony Online Entertainment.

Because the company's payment notices had been "sent to [the] wrong email" over a number of weeks, early on July 15 the websites - and even forums - of Sony Online Entertainment (and games like Everquest 2) went down for a few hours, users directed to parking pages full of ads. Meaning players couldn't really do much of anything.

The solution, when tracked down, was relatively simple. Pay the guy. Well, guys. The sites are now back up and running, and a lesson has been learned: always pay the guy.

Comments

Well that's not entirely true - if you can demonstrate that the domain name was registered by someone who was essentially doing it just so that you'd have to buy it back off them, rather than for some legitimate reason, there are ways to get it back. Courts and such tend not to be so big on the whole blackmail thing.